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LP Water heater burner acting oddly

10-01-2008, 07:32 PM

Bradford white, lp, tank... replaced old one as it had developed a leak in the flue, which dripped water down on the cast iron burner, which crusted it up and closed the holes for the gas, which caused a really fun feature where when it lit it blew flame back out the air shutter.

replaced with a new 50 gal bradford white. This one has the steel burner w/o an adjustable air shutter. When it burns, it roars. looking in the window I see the flame not nice and peacefully coming off the burner, but starting ~ 1/2" away from burner and dancing around, as if gas coming out way too fast. this is abnormal, yes?

Twist 1/4 turn gas shutoff to unit down until nearly choked off and flame settles down and behaves.

This is at ~10,500' altitude. this is a 'high altitude' heater.

Bad regulator from lp tank letting in too much pressure? other appliances seen to work fine. other ideas?

This is my reminder to myself that no good will ever come from discussing politics or religion with anyone, ever.

Comment

I would check the orifice to see if it is sized for natural gas or LP,
also see what high altitude is said to be, many are for in the 4 to 6000 feet range from the instructions I have read, so the orifice may need to down sized to meet the thinner air, of 10.000 +feet since you can not adjust the air to meet the burner orifice,

Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.

Comment

said lp and high altitude on the box... maybe wrong heater in the box? i will get numbers off htr and check against box, bw literature.

how do i identify orifice? got a number on it? color or something? find correct size and get out the calipers?

will have the propane folks out to test pressure as i dont have a device to do this... are they spendy? i probably ought to own one but i don't do this work usually as not terribly comfortable with it; this is on a personal property not for a customer.

Comment

Rheem residential NG heaters are spec'd for 10,500 feet. These are the "regular" models, not HA. Not sure about the LP's. Used to be that a NG model regular was spec'd for 2500' or 4000' and HA meant 8000'. So things change. Check with your manufacturer.

On NG, it matters what state you are in. Colorado utility suppliers derate their gas, so most appliance are good to 8 or 10 K' without problem.
I don't know if they do any such thing with LP???

Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.

Comment

Someone must have forwarded this to BW... Thanks. I was contacted by a BW person and after getting them model and ser # they determined that this model is set up for something like 5000'. Needs a different orifice at 10500', a #54 apparently, which is in the mail.

This is my reminder to myself that no good will ever come from discussing politics or religion with anyone, ever.

Someone must have forwarded this to BW... Thanks. I was contacted by a BW person and after getting them model and ser # they determined that this model is set up for something like 5000'. Needs a different orifice at 10500', a #54 apparently, which is in the mail.

Now, thats service. Good for BW

The Other Rick

Comment

Installed the replacement orifice today, works like a water heater should. A little surprising to me that the replacement was a #54, which I assume is larger than the #52 which it came with. I'd have thought it would need to be smaller? Do I misunderstand the numbering system?

Thanks to Bradford White, (who by the way also sent me a replacement AND a spare for the busted plastic temp control knob, all at no charge, not even postage, after I explained to them that for all I know I busted the knob in the first place; now that is SERVICE) and thanks also to whoever brought the original post to their attn.

Once again astounded by the response I get here. Hope I've helped others as much as I've been helped.

This is my reminder to myself that no good will ever come from discussing politics or religion with anyone, ever.

Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.